Mecha Sonic Reborn - Chapter 11

THE METAL BOY

While Steel and Tia watched TV, Gray quietly walked into the hangar where the Tornado was stored, along with a supply of spare parts and tools used to maintain the biplane.  He called up the plans he had developed for an airship capable of carrying at least five Metal-class robots.  There were plenty of parts in the hangar to build a single-seated plane, but not enough to build what he needed for the Metal Rescue Mission.  He thought back to the Final Egg base where he was awakened, and to some of the data stored in his memory about the facility's layout.  Surely, the abandoned base would have more than enough material to build his airship.  The original Egg Carrier was massive!  He ran back to the TV, nearly running into Steel, who quickly blocked him from doing so.  "What's going on, Gray?"

"This workshop does not have enough materials to build our transport, but the Final Egg base must," he explained.  "If you were able to reactivate me and escape without issue, it means that any sort of security system there is offline.  We could build our airship there, correct?"

"You were stored near the base lobby, Gray.  The parts we need are further inside, behind security systems that may still be active," warned Tia.

"We're all combat-capable, and our power levels should be sufficient to do this," countered Gray.

"You have a point, Gray.  We can get what we need from that base and defend against any active traps.  Besides, this is our mission."  The steel-blue Echidna android quickly switched off the TV.  "Let's go."

Steel and Tia nodded, following their leader out the door and through the jungle, all the way back to the Final Egg base, which seemed suspiciously well-lit for being abandoned.  What appeared to be a young Hedgehog boy with dark blue fur, blue eyes, and a quill style similar to Metal Sonic's, burst through the front door.

"Who are you?  What are you doing here?" asked Steel, concerned by the fact that a young boy who may have had no experience with Eggman was hanging out in one of his old bases.  "Do you know where you are, or how dangerous this place might be?"

"Yeah, I know where I am," the boy replied.  "Dad told me that some evil androids came here earlier and stole one of his robots."  He glared at Steel and Tia.  "You!  You're the ones!" the boy shouted before launching a Homing Attack on Steel, catching the android off-guard and sending him flying backwards into a tree.

"Are you...a Metal?" Steel asked as he righted himself.

"I'm Metaro," the boy replied.  "I was made to be a super robot hero!  That means destroying evil robot kidnappers like you!"  He dashed at Steel again, delivering a powerful kick to his midsection and sending him flying into the same tree with enough force to bring it down.

Tia gasped when she saw the tree fall on the young android.  Although he had attacked and injured Steel, he was still, apparently, a Metal, and he seemed to have pure, if misguided, intentions.  Suddenly, there was a rustle of the fallen tree's leaves before a robot resembling a sharper, sleeker Metal Sonic burst out.  "Timber!" the Metal boy laughed.

"Metaro, listen!" shouted Tia.  "We're not evil.  Dr. Eggman abandoned Silver Sonic.  We rescued him and gave him a chance to live.  What's so evil about that?"

"You're lying!  You were built by that evil Fox Kit who works for Sonic!  After I finish off Steel, I'll take care of you!"

Steel pulled himself up again, and now had a sparking wound in his stomach from Metaro's kick.  "Eggman...is lying, Metaro," he countered weakly.  "We'd rather not fight you.  We came here for parts to build an airship so we can rescue other abandoned Metals, like Gray here."

Metaro shifted his gaze to the gray-furred Hedgehog android.  "You're Big Brother Silver?  What did they do to you?  Did they reprogram you to work for Sonic?"

"I chose to travel with them," Gray replied.  "They reactivated me.  Eggman never did."

"He regrets it.  He's learned a lot about sentient robots over the years.  He used to think all robots were just machines.  Now, he knows better.  Look at me!  I'm a sentient robot!  He did tell me to rescue you, but I could've said 'no.'  I didn't want to though."

Gray put his hand over his forehead.  He wasn't sure what to think about this.  Could this young Metal be telling the truth?

"It's true...or rather...he believes it to be," stated Steel.  "At least, that's what my UT Module is telling me."

"Then...I should go with him.  Maybe...Eggman has changed?"

"Why don't you all come?" asked Metaro.  "You can make your own decisions, right?"

"We can," confirmed Tia, "but I can't really see my creator as evil.  I used to be nothing more than an intelligent voice control system for his workshop, but, when he saw me grow out, he decided to give me this body."  Tia put a hand on Metaro's shoulder.  "Would an evil person do that?"

Metaro shook.  "N-No...No, but...you could be lying, couldn't you?  D-Dad told me...that Tails and Sonic were really good liars.  You must be too!  I'm not gonna fall for it!"  Metaro's Plasma Pulse cannon quickly charged up and fired on Tia, burning off her synthetic fur and sending her malfunctioning body into the wall of the Final Egg.

"Tia!"  Steel shouted as his gynoid friend slammed into the concrete wall.  He quickly dashed over to her side and cradled her now-battered robotic body in his arms.  "Tia, say something...please."

"Critical...damage...." she replied weakly before shutting down.  Steel glared at Metaro, so clouded by anger that he could no longer see the Metal as the innocent and naive child he appeared to be.  "You will regret that!" he growled before Spindashing at the boy Metal, who quickly jumped out of the way and charged up another Plasma Pulse, which he then fired at the enraged android.

Steel attempted to dodge, but wasn't quick enough to dodge the powerful beam, which struck his left arm and severed it.

"Looks like you've been disarmed!" taunted Metaro.

The corny taunt from the boy Metal caused STeel to once again flash back to his battle with Sonic and Tails at the Sky Sanctuary.  His eyes narrowed to slits and he began to clench both is teeth and his still-attached right fist, with which he proceed to throw a flying punch at the young robot's mouth.  "Shut up!  SHUT UP!  You remind me of...Sonic..."

"You know Sonic?"

"I do.  I used to be Mecha Sonic.  When you made that corny remark...it reminded me of when I fought him.  I would rather have left such memories in the past and forgiven Sonic.  That was, after all, when I was just a machine."

Metaro reverted to his lifelike Hedgehog boy form.  "Then...I messed up.  I'm sorry.  I..I didn't know."  He began to tear up.

"It's alright," responded Steel, his expression softening.  "Sonic...He was starting to become my friend.  We talked.  We played a video game together.  He told me I was more than a machine.  Tails salvaged me and repaired me, but, due to glitches in my programming, I went berserk on Knuckles and attacked him.  That wasn't enough for Tails to give up on me though.  I'd wonder if he had an ulterior motive for it if not for what he did for Tia.  I find it hard to believe that he's evil.  I don't know how Eggman treats you, but I guess I assumed that he treats you like a machine."

"No way!  He treats me like I'm his son, and the other Metals are my big brothers, including you."

Steel's UT module didn't pick up any deception.  Eggman really did treat this young android like a son, at least, to his knowledge.

"It would be hard for Metaro to believe Eggman could be feigning this fatherly love," came Gray.  "I ran a scan on his programming.  He isn't programmed with any sort of traditional master obedience program, but he is programmed with an imprint protocol.  Dr. Eggman was able to imprint on him as a father would his son."

"Hey!  Don't scan my systems behind my back!  That's rude!" protested Metaro with his arms crossed over his chest.

"I had to know whether or not you were truly sentient or if Eggman was taking a different approach to controlling his robots." argued Gray.

"Well, d-don't do it again, okay?"

Gray hung his head in submission.  "Alright.  We're just...concerned about you being manipulated and not having true free will.  You're one of us."

Just then, Metaro received a signal on his internal communicator.  "Dad's calling," he announced before opening the connection.  "Hey, Dad.  I caught the evil androids, but...uh...they don't seem all that evil, and one of them's really Mecha Sonic.  Silver Sonic's here too!"

"Excellent!  I knew you wouldn't let me down, my boy!  Are they neutralized?"

"No...I didn't neutralize them.  We fought a little...then started talking.  Mecha's nice.  So is Silver, but he's kinda rude.  He scanned my systems behind my back."

"Ah, well, that boy always did have an insatiable curiosity, which I...foolishly...suppressed,"  Eggman nervously chuckled, fighting the temptation to drop his fatherly facade and throw a few insults at his latest creation.  "Anyway, you should hurry up and get those two neutralized or you'll miss that old Transformers cartoon you love so much."

"Alright!  Later!" Metaro replied with both excitement and nervousness in his voice.  He turned to Steel and Gray and transformed his right hand into a stun cannon.  "Sorry, guys.  I have to do this.  Dad wants you neutralized," the young Metal apologized before firing, causing both elder androids to shut down.  "Maybe Dad just wants to check your systems for anything evil Tails put in you."  He then contacted Eggman.  "I did it," he announced as soon as the mad doctor picked up.

"Well done, Metaro!  I've locked onto your GPS signal, and I'll bring the ship over shortly."

"I'll be waiting," Metaro enthusiastically replied before glancing at Tia's damaged hull.  "Uhh...Dad, do you think you can also fix up Mecha's...girlfriend...and debug her?"

Eggman laughed, both at the prospect of his robot being in a relationship and at the possibilities that could arise from reprogramming her to serve him.  "Well, I'll see what I can do for her.  See you soon." the scientist said before closing the connection.  "Mecha's 'girlfriend' must be that two-tailed vixen android who went with him to reactivate Silver.  It's quite obvious she's that Fox Boy's creation.  Ooohoho the fun I'll have turning her against him and that bothersome Hedgehog!"  With that, he headed for the hangar of his latest base, where a massive airship was stored.